Citing the latest numbers from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Time Magazine reports that Texas has the distinction of being the state with the biggest carbon footprint in the Union.
Photo courtesy of Ealdgyth at Wikimedia Commons
I never thought I’d consider nuclear power a desirable solution to climate change until I read James Lovelock’s latest book, “The Revenge of Gaia: Earth’s Climate Crisis & the Fate of Humanity” (see my previous post on the issue here).
Though I’m still not 100-percent convinced, Lovelock’s arguments are factual, rational and highly persuasive. So
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A research team from Sandia National Laboratories is trying to reverse the combustion process and turn carbon dioxide into liquid fuel.The process works something like this: concentrated solar power from a giant solar furnace is used to superheat a set of catalytic cobalt ferrite rings that, once activated, literally rip carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules apart. As a result, CO2 is transformed into carbon monoxide, which can be converted into methanol, jet fuel, or even gasoline.
Sounds a little too good to be true, but researchers say it works and claim a prototype facility will be completed by April.
The idea of recycling carbon dioxide is not new, but has generally been considered too difficult and expensive to be worth the effort. But with oil prices exceeding $100 per barrel and concerns about global warming mounting, researchers are increasingly motivated to investigate carbon recycling. Los Alamos Renewable Energy, for example, has developed a method of using CO2 to generate electricity and fuel.
NASA scientist James Hansen, the man who first told Congress the planet was warming 20 years ago, declared the bottom line for our planet is 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Our current level: 383 parts per million! “The evidence indicates we’ve aimed too high - that the safe upper limit for atmospheric CO2 is no more than 350 ppm.”
Source: truthout.org
The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and the Portland Cement Association (PCA) have announced their “Concrete Thinking for a Sustainable World” student design competition.
This is the third year for the competition. The concrete industry is looking for opportunities to boost the perception of concrete as a green material, since the mining, processing and transportation of concrete is responsible for 8% of all carbon dioxide produced by human activity.
The town of Mattoon, Illinois rejoiced when the developers of a $1.8 billion low-pollution power plant announced the selected location. This rust-belt town will no longer be primarily known as the bagel capital of the world. The 275-megawatt prototype plant will generate both electricity and hydrogen. Carbon dioxide emissions will be captured and pumped deep into [...]
What if I told you the Federal Government would be paying to experimentally inject 1 million tons of carbon dioxide into the ground under Illinois? And what if I said the CO2 would by supplied by an ethanol plant owned and operated by Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)?
You’d say I was crazy, right?
On Tuesday, the Department of Energy awarded $66.7 million to investigate large-scale carbon sequestration programs in Illinois. The money was awarded to the Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium, one of seven regional carbon sequestration partnerships funded by the DOE and consisting of private businesses, state entities, and local universities in the Illionois-Kentucky-Indiana geographic region. This is all part of the DOE’s 10-year initiative to establish and commercialize carbon sequestration.
In this day and age where, to term it lightly, everything is going to hell in a handbasket, it is a blessing to see some countries taking active steps to avert the "nastiness" in store for us. Sadly though, we simply do not see enough of these steps, especially in relation to what needs to happen.
That aside, India is looking towards the future, and with a population estimated to sit at 1.12 billion
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Over the past year as a result of my increased writing load, I have been exposed to more and more types of science, and facts that simply blow me away. One of the topics that has come to be a favorite of mine, not only as a topic of interest, but in relation to how it affects other issues such as global warming, are the patterns by which the oceans travel.
Reports of rubber
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Carbon Dioxide Molecule
Myth: Compared to natural carbon dioxide emissions, manmade emissions are insignificant.
Fact: The argument is occasionally made by global warming skeptics that manmade carbon dioxide emissions are much smaller than natural emissions. Some skeptics will even quote figures in decimal or percent form, which makes it look even more true. If this is the case, according to their logic, our attempts to stop global warming are futile
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Bioreactor Photo Credit: Chlorophyll Collective
How do you take a damaging substance and evolve it into something beneficial?
In 2005, the United States produced 6,008.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
So, how do you turn 6,008.6 million metric tons of CO2 into something essential for human existence?
From the experts at the Chlorophyll Collective, the answer is simple: Take a bunch of algae, submerge it in water, blast it with
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